Five things we learned in Rockets’ Game 3 overtime victory

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1. That Troy Daniels is a Rockets player. OK, those that had been paying attention knew that. He had spent the season as the epitome of the RGV Vipers’ see it, 3 it offense. He finished the season with the Rockets, playing the final 10 minutes against the Spurs in his second game of the day (having played a Vipers playoff game that afternoon) and started the season finale. But he introduced himself big-time with his game-winning 3-pointer.

2. The Rockets are sometimes their best with a really big or really small lineup. They opened the game with Omer Asik and Dwight Howard on the floor together, finally slowing LaMarcus Aldridge with a defensive presence. The finished it with their smallest lineup of the season, surrounding Howard with Pat Beverley, Jeremy Lin, James Harden and Troy Daniels. That allowed them to spread the floor, shoot 3s and get to the rim.

3. Damian Lillard is big-time. Lillard, in just his third playoff game, needed just 16 shots to burn the Rockets for 30 points, going 9 of 16 and 8 of 9 from the line. When the teams went to small lineups, LaMarcus Aldridge could take Dwight Howard out of the paint and Lillard used all that spacing to easily get to the rim.

4. James Harden is back – or at least, heading in that direction. Harden scored 37 points, but needed 35 shots to do it. That set a franchise record for the most attempts in a playoff game. Making 29.8 percent of his shots in the first two games, he made just 13 of 35 shots, but did go 8 of 9 from the line, adding nine rebounds and six assists.

5. Rebounding is essential. After allowing 13 second-chance points in the first half, the Rockets gave up just two in the second half and overtime. The Blazers missed 26 shots after halftime, but came away with the rebound of just three of them, with no offensive rebounds in overtime.